When the laboratory is the goal

You have surley heard of noice art, and such ways of expression. I myself make a lot - and I tell you - a lot of sketches when I compose. So that is my laboratory. Then I start to write the actual music. I find too many of my colleagues think that the work is finished when the laboratory work is done, and present their "sketches" as compositions, often accompanied by a huge program note. When I buy a car I would like to drive it right away, not having to build it first.

Conceptual art

I must admit it, I´ve seen and heard some conceptual art but the most of it is pure showoffs. If you can discribe your idea on an A4 paper, and through that give the reader an imagination on what i is about; forget it. Ideas are not interesting, if you are creative, your main problem should be that you have too many ideas. Art is about creating something with a material which is impossible to express in any other way.

Playing the viola: Lucifer Was and Reidar Myhre

Yesterday I went to Freddy Lindquists studio in Drøbak to record a viola track on the upcoming record "The Crown of Creation" with "Lucifer Was" (where I´ve done the string arangements). But I was also asked to record a line on Reidar Myhres upcoming record produced by Freddy Lindquist and Thore Engen. With great arrangements made by Freddy. It´s a kind of music from the 70 which remindes of James Last. Ambient party music for grownups from 50 and upwards. Reidar Myhre has been doing a lot of projects during the years; so it was fun to be a part of his new record.

Richard III, why become a soldier?

I'm very interested in military history, and the question why people choose to be soldiers. Is it the exitement to move outside the rules of the society; kill whom you want without any concequenses? Is it about adrenaline kick; a kind of bungee jumping. I've met some norwegian soldiers serving in Afganistan and Lebanon. My opinion is that we need a millitary force, and that we have to give those women and men the respect they deserve doing their duty. Off course Norway as number seven in the international arm production have a great interst that there are wars. But I think that the armed forces are important not only to protect or expand our economic interests. For me it is about the person who is a soldier, and that the reason we have had peace in the western Europe for ower sixty years. It's naive to think that we can be without armed forces to defend, or to do peace creating operatioms. So I would like to make this as a theme in my next opera project with my libretist Ketil J. Zahl who is a military historian.

Famous norwegians and monuments

Some days ago my freemason loge arranged a tour visiting the graves of famous norwegians. What I find so disturbing about monuments is that the artists we are celebreating after they are dead, actually have been struggling against the narrow mindness of those people celebreating them. And the worst thing is that they say Grieg (the composer), Munch (the painter) and Ibsen (the play writer), are one of us. That those great artist lived abroad for mostly of their lifetime is not so important for the common narrow minded norwegians. I was asked by my brethren from my loge to talk about the composer Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935), a great composer whom was a great orchestrator, and helped Grieg to transcribe folk music which later was published as Griegs Lyric Pieces. Halvorsen wrote mostely music for theatre, but as he retiered in 1929 he started to write music in a larger scale. But unfortunately for the the music history, he had only six years to do this. He could have been the norwegian Sibelius or Nilsen, but sorry not... So Grieg went out to be THE norwegian composer with his folk music ripp offs.

Prog-rock meats modern classical: Forget it.

I´ve done arrangements for a Project called "The Crown of Creation" with the group Lucifer Was. Yesterday and to day Michala Petri was recording different recorders (Blockflöten). The idea was to melt classical modern music with prog rock. So all the arrangements I´ve made, was written in a way that they could be played without band (un plugged with vocals). Abstract music and rhythmic music can not be combined. The cultural differences are to huge. I mean I can write prog rock, but the prog rock guys can not write abstract music. So I´m left with the feeling that the work intensive arrangements I´ve written, have developed to be a kind of huge 27 piece melotrone with live strings from the Kristiansand Chamber Orchestra (me conducting). So if colleges of mine would like to work with this cross over thing: Write evererything your self (lyrics/concept/music), or at least get a huge sum of money to do it. But I think the project "The Crown of Creation" will be great thanks to Freddy Linquist; he is a great musician and producer. I´m so tired doing work "for the love of it"; that is the amateaur atitude. I´m so sick of beeing to nice and helpfull.

Why the blog tiltle Lost in Translucence

The title of my blog is inspired by the Film "Lost in Translation" (2003) Dircected by Sofia Coppola. It´s a film about alienation and which direction the life will or can take. An actor Bob Harris (Bill Murrray) is in Tokyo to film a whiskey commersial, an he meets a Yale graduate in philosophy Charlott (Skarlett Johansson). I see composing as an art of translation. I see the western modern classical music as diffrent dialects which you have to have the ability to translate to get the grip on. In my own work I often find that I´m lost. I think the feeling of being lost, is of greate importance: If you are lost, you have to find a way out. This is the vacuum I need to fill with music. The word tranclucense are for example materials allow light to pass through them only diffusely: they cannot be seen through. And that is for me music.

About working as a composer

It would be nice as a composer just use the short time we are given to write music. But sorry folks, I´m not sitting in with candle lights by a huge grand piano from 1856 writing with blue ink drinking red wine. To be a composer has to do with administration, networking and dead lines.

I met my dear college and friend Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen yesterday, and we talked about why we do this - writing music I mean. Do we write music so that the conductors have something to conduct, the musician something to play, and giving the audience a chanse to be seen? As a composer I think it is of great importance not to have to many illutions about which importance our work have for the society, as long it is important to one self. If you as a composer really belive in your music, it´s very important to learn to know how the mechanisms behind the "industry" called modern classical music work. You have to be a good craftsman, know a lot of people, openmindedly dig into the music history and have a huge portion of luck...

The blogging experience

I must admit, that I see the advantage of blogging. My girlfriend has convinced me that it is a good idea; and Thomas Dolby got one. And I can get rid of all the crap stored in my mind (loads), so it´s a kind of shrink/trash can. I´m not going to write every day though. What you have read is a test.